Two weeks into the Vuelta a España and ten days into leading the race, Ben O'Connor does not appear to be overly burdened by the red jersey on his back. Indeed, Primosz Roglic's advantage has steadily shrunk from nearly five minutes to just over a minute, but O'Connor does not seem to be fazed by the demands of his position.

The polemics surrounding the Decathlon-AG2R blocking maneuver on stage 11 were amicably passed over. After deleting his Twitter account, he smiled and said, “This was a good excuse. The worst day in Puerto de Anchares was quickly absorbed. I was “pretty much boiled over.” On Sunday, he rode defiantly in Cuito Negru, defending the red jersey when many expected him to lose it. I will defend this jersey as long as I can.”

It has been a tumultuous two weeks by any measure in O'Connor's cycling career, but when he spoke to reporters via video call on Monday's rest day, he put the rigors of being a Vuelta leader in perspective.

“At this point, I don't think fatigue makes a difference,” O'Connor said. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] Friday was a little rough. But it wasn't like we had to parachute out.”

Cuito Negru was a boon for his resilience. O'Connor reiterated on Monday that his main goal in this Vuelta was to make the podium in Madrid, but his disappointment at falling behind Roglic and Enric Mas in the last kilometer of stage 15 Negru told a different story. He was not yet ready to exit the stage.

“Losing time always hurts and it was a little frustrating,” he said. But in the end, having this jersey is something special.”

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